He Did It!

Jack rolled over today! He's been trying so hard for a while now, but couldn't figure out how to get over himself. This afternoon he went from back to front and then almost instantly back over. I'm so proud of him, but I was REALLY enjoying that he still stayed where I put him!

edited to add: Now he won't stop rolling over. However, he seems to only know how to roll onto his belly while in bed, and not back over. Then he gets pissed, wakes up, wiggles around for a bit, then starts screaming. Hello, I don't want to get up 6 times a night to roll you back over!! Jeez. . . babies!

Birthday

My birthday is next week. Henry told me he wanted some cake today and I told him we don't have any (like he believes that -- he saw three of them in our garage fridge) but that my birthday is next week and we'll have some then. He got all excited and said, "Where are you going to have your birthday?" Meaning my party. I'm so sure he had visions of my birthday celebration at Chuck E. Cheese's. He seemed disappointed when I told him Gigi and Grampy's house.

David heard the talk of birthdays and said he knew "the perfect" thing to get for me. He said he was going to tell Chris he needs "some lots of big monies" for it and some pink wrapping paper. I asked him what it was, and he said it was a secret. Then he said, "But I'll give you a clue. . . it's the Buxton over the shoulder expandable organizer made of genyouine leather! It's just what you need!" Um, WTF? That little gem would be this http://www.buxtonbag.com/?cid=397720. The commercial plays during Spongebob, for some strange reason. David is OBSESSED with this bag. I swear to God, if Chris humors him and buys that for me, I will so not be happy. I'd rather just have the $19.95.

Much Like Hillary. . .

. . . Henry's red phone rings at night. He has a red toy phone, and he likes to call people on it before he goes to bed. Tonight, much like other nights, he called Gigi. He's hysterical when he does this, as he lays on his back, head on his pillow, his right ankle propped up on his left knee with the phone in his right hand and his left behind his head. I so have visions of him in 12 years doing the same thing. Only hopefully not on a toy phone, because that would be really weird. So tonight this was his conversation, "RING! RING! (It's rinnin Dadid.) Hello? Gigi? It's me - Hamry Timtim. I'm callin' you cause you're on bacation. I went to get you mail today. Tomorrow Mama said it's Dadid's turn to get it. Are you habin' fun? Did you hab fun on da plane? Mama said I can't call you on da plane. Guess what Gigi? No, guess. I'm not tellin' you! You hafta guess! Today I did poopy on da big potty. TWO TIMES! I needed pribacy to do it. Dadid kep wantin' to see it. I'll show you when you get back from bacation. I wub you Gigi. Hab fun!"

Then he called Julie. "RING! RING! (It's rinnin Dadid. I hope she's home.) Hello? Julie? It's me -- Hamry Timtim. I'm jus calling to see if you baby's still stinky? Is JT playin wif he's red Spiderman hands? OK. I wub you Julie. Night Night."

I'm laughing now thinking of that. Today LJ pooped her pants at McD's, and Henry told Julie, "Somefing stinks. I fink it's you baby!" He clearly remembered that and wanted to make sure she had been changed! That child cracks me up.

Wednesday Update

• Every child in town who likes to scream was at McDonald's today.
• They were running repeatedly around our table. Screaming. The look I gave them (I hope) clearly said, "Hi, where's your mother?".
• Three irritating children kept sticking their faces in Jack's face and saying in a retarded voice, "HI CUTE BABY! OOOOOOOH, YOU'RE SO CUTE!" One said she wanted to kiss him. All I could think was, "Dirty little girl, I dare you to kiss him!" And their mom was sitting right there allowing this. Personal space much? Finally I got up and walked over to David just to get him away from them.
• Chris caught David and Henry with Jack's bedroom window open and the screen popped out ready to make a break for it. Jack's bedroom is on the front of our house. Facing the street. Not fenced in. I caught them doing it today in the living room. Same situation there. And the thing is, if you ask them what could happen if they're outside by themselves and we don't know it, they know what could happen. . . "A car might hit me, a mean mommy or daddy might steal me, and I would get in trouble" is what they say. I clearly need to go to Babies R Us to look for window locks, because I don't want to screw them all shut.
• My eyebrows are about to meet each other and have a party in the middle of my forehead, but I have three cakes to do by Friday, so there's no plucking in sight. I hope they like each other's company.

Wednesday 12

OK, it's not got the same ring as Tuesday 12. What can I say? I'm a day late again!

1. Jack seems to like waking every 90 minutes at night again. He thinks he wants to eat. I don't think so.

2. After getting up three times with him Monday night, I knew he wasn't hungry. He was looking for some comfort. Soothe thyself. I wheeled him in his bed into our master bathroom and closed the door. He slept there happily for the rest of the night.

3. I'm a big fan of "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child". I know it's not the method for everyone, but it's worked very, very well with David and Henry. Time to bust the book back out and get started with Jack. This house doesn't run very well when Mama gets no sleep!

4. David said this morning, "You and Dada are going on a sunny vacation. I'll take care of Jack with no parents around."

5. Henry said, "I'm going on a bacation too! Know where? To sunny Fornication!" Um, what? Clearly he was trying to say something else, but I was laughing too hard to figure out what that may have been.

6. Chris is back to work. As much as I love having him home, it's a damn good thing he's back to his regular schedule. That man has a penchant for dessert like I've never seen. And I'm easily persuaded. I gained 2 pounds while he was on vacation!

7. My house looks like a bomb went off. There are literally toys from one end to the other. And two naked children sitting on the couch watching TV.

8. My birthday is next week! I'm very excited about it, even though there's nothing I can think of that I want. (OK, I want an electric griddle to expedite my almost daily marathon pancake making sessions, but that's pathetic and I refuse to tell anyone I want that for a birthday gift.)

9. My parents are in Massachusetts for my cousin Matthew's high school graduation. I told my mom to drive by our old house and take pictures of it!!

10. I can't believe Matthew is old enough to graduate from high school. I remember when, if you asked him how to spell his name, he would say, "Up, down, up, down, up, down, cross, down, down, cross, cross." Try it -- it really is how you make the letters to spell Matt.

11. Henry "had a parade" into Jack's room yesterday while Jack was sleeping. Henry marched in and blew a train whistle as loud as he could. I had to chase him to get the whistle. When I asked him why he did that (as he was crying because he hates to get in trouble) he said, "Bbbbbecause. . . sometimes. . . sometimes I just don't THINK!"

12. We were going to go swimming today but it's nasty and rain-y out. I'm taking them to McDonald's to play instead. Lord help me.

Sweet Henry

Henry is truly the sweetest boy. He always has something nice to say, a compliment to give, will randomly tell me that he loves me, and always has a hug and a kiss for people. He's very affectionate, loves to snuggle, and is so friendly to everyone. Tonight he got into bed and I tucked him in with his Gigi blanket. He said, "Aaaah. Mama, I wub my Gigi bwanket. Dis Gigi bwanket and my Mr. Siwky blanket are my faborite fings. Ebery night dis Gigi bwanket is wike a nice big hug from my Gigi." I'm not kidding when I said I hugged him so hard I thought I hurt him. He grunted. He was so loving and cute I wanted to cry.

Memorial Day Weekend

Right, still no camera. . . this would be much more exciting with photos!

Thursday was David's school picnic to celebrate the end of the year. It was so cute to see him playing with all of his pals. I have a really cute photo of him with his teachers, but they're both wearing shirts with the name of his school on them, and I'm not silly enough to post that on the Internet.

Friday was a BIG day for me. It was the first experience with a non-family babysitter! Seriously, I know it seems foolish, but that is honestly monumental for me. I am close to neurotic about leaving our children with anyone. David is 4. FOUR! And it's the first time he's had a sitter. And Jack is four months. . . that third child always does things earlier, I suppose!! The morning started with me taking the big boys for a wagon ride around the neighborhood. We went to a couple of yard sales, and they had so much fun looking through everyone's junk. And I do mean junk. We came home and hopped in the car to hit a few more yard sales since they had so much fun. We got three sleepers, a pair of jeans, and a toy that we sold at our yard sale last year. No, I'm not kidding. They were psycho about it. Thankfully I got all of that for $2, so I didn't care if they played with the toy once. And they've actually played with it quite a bit. David asked me twice, at two different houses, if we could buy a dog toy for Lucy. Hi, we gave that dog away in OCTOBER. He literally asks about her, when she's coming home, when we can visit her, etc. every single day. He wanted to get her a frisbee and a pink bone. I explained (again) that Lucy doesn't live with us anymore, and he said he wanted to have them for a "nice surprise" for when she comes home. Um, she IS home -- at ANOTHER home! It makes me so sad for him each time he asks about her. They asked constantly all day long when Stephanie was coming, if Stephanie was here yet, etc. I was so glad when she got here!! Chris and I went to dinner and the bookstore for a little while. I wasn't sure how they would behave, react, etc. so I didn't want to be gone for hours and hours. They had so much fun! They were exhausted, and (so Stephanie said) very well behaved. I hope so, because I completely intend to ask her back.

Saturday. . . why can't I remember what we did?! I'm pretty sure not much. We played outside in the morning in pjs, Chris finished the master bathroom cabinets, and they look FABULOUS! I'm thrilled with the way they turned out. (Our cabinets are about 15ish years old and look it. They need some love.) We painted them a very, very dark brown and put new hardware on them. The hall bath is next, and I think we'll get started on that tomorrow. I took the three boys to the grocery store while Chris cut the grass. Why I chose to go to the grocery store with three children in the afternoon on a Saturday is beyond me. I'll be happy to never do that again. They were great, but it was so crowded and stressful for me!

Sunday Julie and her crew were going to come over for dinner, but LJ got sick. Chris and I took the boys to my parents' house to swim for a bit, then my sister and her boyfriend came over for dinner. We had a nice time. And yummy dinner -- orange barbecue chicken, grilled corn on the cob, baked potatoes, and a berry/pound cake dessert. I also made a S'mores pie, but for some reason it never set and was like pudding. Strange. I'm definitely not a pie maker. That's probably the fourth pie I've screwed up.

Today Chris is back to work. Blah! I took the boys to my parents' pool again this afternoon. We had lunch there, swam a bit (Jack's first time in the pool!), then it started pouring. It was good timing though, because we were all tired. We came home and snuggled in the living room and watched a movie for the afternoon. We had pancakes for dinner, they all got a bath, we read 12 books (clearly they're my children) and they were in bed early. I'm not far behind them! I'm watching the Top Chef marathon on Bravo. I love that show! I'm about to head to bed to make some lists for the week -- my to-do list, our menu plan, and a short shopping list for tomorrow for some cake ingredients I need.

Some Photos

Here are some photos from our trip to the Soda Pop Junction and the train "museum", Jack hitting the sauce in his exersaucer, and one from Mother's Day.

Tuesday Twelve. On Wednesday.

1. Our patio canopy is up, and it rocks.

2. We went to the Soda Pop Junction yesterday in Lynnville, TN (pop. 400. No, I'm not kidding.) sodapopjunction.com I saw it on Unwrapped on the Food Network, and it looked really cute. They definitely shined it up for the show (and haven't since), but it was really cute. They have 45's hanging all around the walls and Henry said, "Dadid, look at all those wheels hanging up!" They were really excited to sit at the counter on stools that spun around and eat ice cream. (I do have photos of this, but have to download them at my parents house . . . they'll be up later.)

3. After our lunch and ice cream we went across the street to the Lynnville Railroad museum. They had a small "train depot" building with memorabilia and some trains you could climb on and go into. If David and Henry had died then, they would have died happy.

4. Jack had his 4 month doctor's appointment yesterday. He's 25 inches long and weighs 14 pounds, 11 ounces.

5. He got three shots and one oral immunization. He had a fever and was fussy for the afternoon. I felt so bad for him -- he was pitiful.

6. As a comparison, at 4 months David was 15 pounds, 10 ounces and 24.5 inches long. Henry was 18 pounds, 2 ounces and 24.75 inches long. I'm very surprised that Jack started out the largest and is the smallest now! He's in the 55th percentile for height and the 50th for weight, which is exactly where he's been the whole time.

7. I think we're going to sign up for a CSA (community supported agriculture). The farm is Avalon Acres (avalon-acres.com), and the price seems very reasonable. I'm going to go tonight to their drop off and see what the portions look like. I had thought about doing it with a different farm, but the location for picking up the produce each week was not convenient for us. This farm also has a package that includes meat and eggs. I would like to buy as much produce and meat locally as I can.

8. Today is David's last day of school. I think he understands that to mean the last day ever. Boy will he be disappointed!

9. Chris was watering the plants outside yesterday morning and Henry said, "If Dadda puts some dirt and water on me will I grow up to be a dadda?"

10. My birthday is two weeks from tomorrow! YAHOO! I love birthdays, especially my own.

11. I had a dream last night that I made Ashlee Simpson's wedding cake. What the hell?! And it was such a real feeling dream -- I seriously thought when I woke up this morning that I had made it.

12. I still can't find my camera. . . I'm seriously irritated at myself. Especially since I now need to get a new one. Happy Birthday to me, I guess.

Tuesday Dinner

This recipe is what we had tonight for dinner. It was SO good. I'm a huge tuna fan, and would have actually preferred it to be more rare than I made it, but it is delicious. I got the recipe from the Weight Watchers website. (It makes 4 servings and is 4 points per serving, for my fellow WW people!)

Grilled Tuna with Herbed Butter

Ingredients:
1 lb. yellowfin tuna, one steak cut to 1-1 1/2 inches thick
1 tsp. olive oil
1 tsp fresh lime juice
1 spray cooking spray
2 Tbsp. butter, softened
1 Tbsp. chives, fresh, freshly chopped
1 Tbsp. parsley, fresh, freshly chopped
1 Tbsp. fresh tarragon, finely chopped
1 tsp. lime zest, fresh, minced
salt and pepper to taste
1 lb. spinach, baby variety, steamed

Coat both sides of fish with oil and lime juice; set aside

Off heat, coat grill with cooking spray; preheat grill to high.

Meanwhile, in a small metal bowl, combine softened butter, chives, parsley, tarragon, lime zest, salt and pepper. Set aside.

Cook tuna on one side for 3 minutes; carefully flip and cook on other side for 3 more minutes for rare, or longer until desired degree of doneness. Place bowl containing butter mixture on grill just until it melts -- you don't want to cook it.

Thinly slice tuna and serve over spinach; drizzle melted herbed butter over top. Yields about 3 ounces of tuna and 1/4 of spinach per serving.

YUM!

It's Been a While!

I can't believe it's been almost a week since I posted. Slacker! Some highlights:

• I still can't find our camera. I'm not happy. I am afraid it may have been on the changing table and gotten knocked off into the diaper trash can and I didn't notice. You see where this is going? If that is the case, the trash has since been taken out. . .
  
• We got the paint to do the boys room. I'm thrilled, because I hate the color currently in there. We're also going to touch up Jack's trim (the tape pulled almost all of the trim paint off when Chris painted his room -- so frustrating!) and paint the vanities in our bathrooms.
  
• I did the flowers in our hanging baskets and window boxes yesterday. They look so cute! Here's hoping I don't kill them.
  
• Chris is getting our gazebo-thingy for the patio right now. I'm glad we waited to buy one, because I like the one he's getting much more than our original plan. And it's $65 less expensive! We desperately need it now that it's nice out. We have absolutely zero shade in the backyard now since the tree blew over.
  
• David and Henry spent the night with my parents Saturday night. While there, David managed to rip insulation out of their attic walls and ruin the retractable leash they got for their new dog. He pulled all of the leash out and then CUT it with scissors. WTF? David Scissorhands. . .
  
• Speaking of their new dog, her name is Greta and she's so freaking cute. She's tiny, and so sweet and snuggly. She really liked to be with Jack, I'm guessing because he's the only person there who didn't seem totally enormous to her! David is slightly obsessed with her. He wanted to sleep in her cage with her and wanted to "trade" with Gigi. Gigi could keep Jack and David could keep Greta.


• Jack is four months today. He's been celebrating for the last three nights by getting up every hour. As a result, I'm stuffing him full of food in hopes that he'll sleep more! He still hates tummy time and I think will never roll over. If I put him on his stomach all he does is cry, thrash his head around, and blow boogies out of his nose. It's great. He goes to the doctor tomorrow for his 4 month appointment.

I wish I had something more exciting to talk about. . . not much has been going on. David's last day of school is on Wednesday. Any exciting ideas about how to keep my children occupied for the summer!? The boys will have their first babysitters on Friday night. Miss Stephanie and Mr. Matt will be coming over to stay with them while Chris and I go to dinner. I can't even tell David that it's coming up, because he'll ask about it every 10 minutes until then. He's in love with Miss Stephanie. He wanted to get her an end of the school year gift, even though she's not one of his teachers. (She's his teacher's daughter.) He was very adamant about it. Of course we got her one.

Here are some pictures of Jack. (Taken with my sister's camera!) He's "talking" ALL the time now. And giving Henry a serious run for his money in the volume department.

Table Talk

I placed David's dinner plate in front of him. It was a mini hamburger, corn, and steak fries. His reaction?

"What is this? This is disgusting. I don't wike hamburgers, even if they're wittle and cute. This corn isn't popcorn, and that's the only corn I wike. And I didn't order fat fries, I ordered skinny fries. I want a wunchable, a yogurt, and a small bwueberry muffim."

WHAT?! I didn't ORDER fat fries?! If I hadn't been laughing so hard I would have been pissed.

How does this happen?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080513/od_afp/canadaairlinechildphilippinesoffbeat

I understand they explain how it happened, but seriously? I have three children and, knock on wood, haven't forgotten one anyplace yet. Let alone flown on a plane without one. . .

Tuesday Twelve

1. David had a dentist appointment this morning. That's never been a pleasant trip. However, since having his tonsils and adenoids removed it's been exceptionally unpleasant. Chris and I flipped a coin to see who would take him. Chris lost!!

2. I told David if he did a good job at the dentist we'd take a picnic to the playground today for lunch. He did a FABULOUS job, with no crying, no fussing, and said it tickled. He decided he'd rather ride his bicycle than go to the park. Fine with me!

3. My house seems to perpetually smell like poop. I don't like the smell of poop. One thing that contributes to that, I suspect, is that we never open the windows. We keep our house at a balmy 68 degrees year round. That doesn't really lend itself to many open windows, since the air seems to always be running. It's cooler outside this morning, so I have the windows all open in hopes that we'll air the joint out.


4. Jack is loving his exersaucer. So are Henry and David. And apparently Henry thinks it's a toilet with toys, because he's peed twice in it. I have photos of them in there, but can't find the camera.


5. I'm going to use the last bit of my frozen strawberries today to make some jam. I want to go back this week to pick more.


6. Chris is on vacation next week. I told David and he burst into tears. He thought Chris was going on vacation someplace.


7. We're going to go to Chattanooga while he's on vacation and ride the incline railway again. David and Henry LOVE it.


8. I think we'll also go to Kentucky to Kentucky Down Under (http://www.kdu.com/).


9. I'm also hoping to get David and Henry's room painted. That may be a bit ambitious.


10. Next week is David's last week of school. I'm already thinking of things we can do to keep ourselves occupied for the summer!


11. I hope whomever was responsible for the Speed Racer marketing has been compensated handsomly. My children are obsessed.

12. There's a woman on Dr. Phil right now who has a daughter who is a drug addict. The mother doesn't think that she has anything to do with her daughter's problems, yet she's snorted coke with her. Um, hello?

Good Thoughts

Without going into much detail since it's not my information to share, if you've got any good thoughts to spare, please think about my family. My grampy is experiencing some illness and associated treatments. From what I understand, it's not pleasant for him, will last for several weeks, and I'd love it if you could think some good thoughts for him and my grandmother. This is the part of living far from family that's difficult. Grammy and Grampy, I love you and miss you! Get well soon! (Clearly, as you can tell from the size of David and Henry, this is an old photo! However, it's the last time I was in Massachusetts and saw my Grampy!)

Happy Mother's Day!

What a nice mother's day I've had! I was pleasantly surprised this morning to wake up (late-ish) and come out to find the cutest homemade cards, a new cookbook I've been coveting, and a sweet card. Chris asked the boys what I like, and their responses were surprisingly accurate! David's had pictures he drew all over it. He said I liked "snuggling, pink, and going to Target". Chris had to take care of the snuggling and Target pictures on the card. Henry said I like, "pink, drinking coffee, and eating cake." OK, so I don't like eating cake, but I do love some cake! They were so sweet. The boys also came home from my in-laws house with some very pretty flowers they picked for me.

Happy Mother's Day to my mom. You've always been able to successfully tread the fine line between mother and friend, seemingly knowing when I needed you to be each. You were so creative in the things we would do when I was little, always taking the time to allow me to explore, play dress up with your clothes, go to the library AGAIN, or do your hair. Thank you for the countless books you read to me, the sweet notes you would write to me, the innumerable times you would play with my hair or rub my back. You've been an amazing example to me of how to be a mother, and I often find myself thinking, "What would my mother do?" The, "You look so much like your mother" used to drive me crazy, and now of course I realize what a compliment that is. I've been so lucky to have such a wonderful relationship with you. I've never doubted who to call to ask a question about a sick baby or a cooking measurement. You passed to me your great appreciation for books, good food, and having fun. You're so fun to be around, I'm happy to consider you my friend as well as my mom. Some of your best advice was probably not even given as advice, but those are the words I take comfort in when I need it. There are very few people who have made me laugh harder. I appreciate you so much, of course now more that I am a mother myself. Seeing you with my boys makes me think so much of when I was little. I can truly say that the very good memories outnumber the unpleasant ones by leaps and bounds. You've never been afraid to be affectionate with us, always willing to give a kiss or hug. You have taught me, through your example, how to be a mom. I can only hope my children have as much love and respect for me as I do for you. I love you Mommy!

Wedding & Grooms Cake Photos

The wedding cake was white almond sour cream cake with buttercream filling and icing. The grooms cake was chocolate cake with chocolate icing and filling. The groom's cake has an edible image of the Nashville Fire Department crest (the groom is obviously a fireman). I'm glad to be done, and if I never do another wedding cake, that's fine with me! It wasn't difficult to do, I just don't like the pressure associated with "wedding"! And a big thank-you to my assistant Julie!!!

Henry's Gift

My mom made a beautiful quilt for David before he was born, and he calls it his Gigi blanket. He sleeps with it every night, takes it with him when he sleeps somewhere else, uses it to cuddle on the couch, etc. He loves it. He loves it so much that she just had to come over recently to "prepare it" as David said, where it was starting to come unsewn from four years of daily use. This photo is David resting with his Gigi blanket. (And our old dog Lucy!)

Gigi had been working on a quilt for Henry, and yesterday she brought the finished product over for him. He slept with it last night, dragged it around the house all day telling us about it, and brought it with him for his sleepover. It's an I-Spy quilt, which is perfect for him because he LOVES to play I-Spy. She did a fantastic job, and my boys are so lucky to have something from their Gigi that was made with so much love.

Five for Friday

1. David and Henry are spending the night with my in-laws tonight. Whenever they're going to be away from me, I so look forward to the quiet time. And when they're gone, all I do is think about them, wonder what they're doing, and wish they were home!

2. I'm doing cakes for my first wedding tomorrow. And they're expecting 500 guests. Nothing like starting small. . . I've done groom's cakes before, but not wedding and groom. The reception's not until 8 tomorrow night, and I've already got all of the tiers decorated, ready to be assembled at the reception site. That leaves me essentially the entire day big-boy free tomorrow!

3. Chris cut the grass with his new mower today. I think he's in love. He got a major upgrade with this one, and he said it's really worth the extra money. My husband is pretty meticulous with things like the lawn and car cleanliness, so I'm glad he's happy with it.

4. Jack no longer sleeps in his car seat. Well, unless he falls asleep while we're out. He sleeps swaddled in his bed. I'm still working on getting him out of my room. . .

5. I'm working on my 100 things about me list. I seriously think of things in the middle of the night while I'm feeding Jack. How many people reading this remember my list of "criteria" for my future husband?! (I know Michele and Jenny are nodding their heads. . . Susan? You too?)I'm a VERY good list maker! Unfortunately I made that list on an old computer, and I don't have a hard copy of it. I wish I did, because I'd love to share it on this blog. It was a RIOT!

Are You Kidding Me?

I got out of the shower this morning and could hear Henry, hysterically crying in the living room. I could hear this from within our bathroom, with the fan blowing and the door closed, inside our bedroom with that door closed as well. He was HYSTERICAL. I quickly got dried off and put my robe on. When I came out, Chris was just coming out of the hall bathroom. Henry came running over to me screaming, crying, and sweating. I tried to figure out what was wrong, and he kept holding his nose. I thought maybe it was bleeding, but he wouldn't really move his hand. I asked David what was wrong, and he didn't know. Of course I assumed he had fallen or David hit him. Nope. He kept saying, "MY NOSE! MY NOSE!" I finally wrestled his hand away from his face long enough to look. Then I saw it. A plastic bean from "Don't Spill the Beans" stuck up his nose. We played yesterday and must have missed a bean when we were cleaning up. I have no idea where it was, but he found it and for some reason stuck it up his nose. I got a pit in my stomach, because I could envision where this was going. Henry had to get stitches in his face over the summer last year, and it was a very, very traumatic experience for him. Since then, anything to do with his face or mouth is not fun to deal with. We tried to get him to blow it out. Didn't work. I tried to push it out from the outside of his nose. Didn't work. I got rounded tweezers and had Chris sit with him on the couch. That REALLY didn't work. Finally I called the pediatrician's office to see what they suggested. Of course it was to bring him in. I hung up with them and told him we had to go to the doctor. He said, "NO! I want to bwow it out into a burpy." Um, OK. I got a burp cloth, covered his mouth and pinched the other side of his nose closed, and told him to blow. I didn't think he had that much air in his little body! That bean shot out like a rocket! He quickly calmed down and was so tired he layed down on the couch. We discussed how we don't put things in our nose or ears. That child!!

Attention Nursing Mother

This is a note to the nursing mother I saw yesterday at the mall. I'm so glad you've opted to nurse your child. You're providing him/her with the best food and nutrients you can. I'm a big advocate of nursing. I've nursed all three of my children. I nurse Jack now. In fact, I too fed my baby at the mall. (In a fitting room, FYI.) I understand very well what a sacrifice it can be, and also what a bonding experience it is with your infant. Did you need to sacrifice and bond while walking around the mall yesterday? Without a blanket? I know I'm opening a big can of worms here, and I firmly believe that breastfeeding mothers should be able to do so in public. But, you took "public" to a whole new level. I don't want to see your boobies. My three year old son doesn't (?) want to see your boobies. I don't want to explain to him for the rest of the day why someone "had she's boobies out in da mall to feed she's baby." Now, I'm not saying that you need to go to a restroom or something to feed your child. Hell, I don't want to eat in a bathroom, so I don't want to feed my child there. However, please, I urge you to use a little discretion. Perhaps you could try sitting on a bench with a blanket to cover yourself. There's really no need to stroll the mall, shirt hiked up, feeding the kid.

200th post

That's sort of hard to believe. One might think that I'd make such a monumental post a really good one. Nope.

Overheard this morning:

David (in his kind of creepy "I'm talking to babies" voice): Awwww. I'm snuggling Jack. I'm so sweet.
Henry: Yup.
Me: That is sweet. Henry, do you want to snuggle Jack?
Henry: Notrightnow. I'm poopin'.
David: I want a pamcake.
Me: Henry, do you want anything to eat?
Henry: Nope.
Me: You're not hungry? Are you sure?
Henry: Well, I just ate a booger. I fink I'm full.

Quote

This quote made me smile, for obvious reasons.

A man loves his sweetheart the most, his wife the best, but his mother the longest. ~Irish Proverb

Hump Day

• David is going diaper free at night now, with (*so far*) only one accident.


• That accident was last night, which led to him being up. For the day. At 2:15 AM.


• That sucked.


• He also figured out last night while he was up that he could get out of his room and did so about 549876318 times.


• He wanted his spencer train. He wanted a drink. He wanted popcorn. He wanted a snack. He wanted strawberry pie. He wanted to watch TV. He wanted to tell me some jokes. You get the picture.


• He didn't want to be up alone, so he woke Henry up. I mean, are you kidding me?


• Henry only came into my room about 248573 times.


• That didn't suck as much.


• David was s-u-p-e-r grumpy after school. Not surprising. I was too, since we got up in the middle of the night.


• I forgave his grumpiness because he made me the cutest Mother's Day stuff at school.


• Mother's Day pretty much usually sucks around here, as my husband doesn't think it's a day worthy of celebrating. Don't get me started. It's not that he doesn't appreciate me, etc. but he doesn't like "made up holidays". It hurts my feelings but I pretend it doesn't so I'm not disappointed for that entire day and sulking with hurt feelings. And yes, he says he feels the same way about Father's Day. However, I don't, so I still do things to make the day special for him.


• Speaking of sucking, Jack's a sucker. A thumb sucker, that is. It's official. It's generally the right thumb, but it takes two hands to get the thumb into his mouth, so it sort of just seems to be whichever ends up in first.


• I only have one more layer of cake to bake. YAHOO! I got six baked today.


• I was oddly productive, probably fueled by caffeine. This is exceptionally notable, considering the hour at which I awoke for the day.


• Henry and I went shopping today and got really exciting things -- new bras. I seriously was excited about that. Being pregnant and/or nursing babies for five plus consecutive years does some crazy things to a body. I'm just sayin'.


• I'm now going to tuck myself into bed to fold four baskets of laundry. Or maybe just go to sleep. Hopefully until later than 2ish.

Tuesday Twelve

1. Our lawnmower broke over the weekend. Mid-mow. Yes folks, that's right. Half of the yard cut, half of it not. Thank the LAWD it was the backyard. Seriously, how WT would that be? Even more if Chris had left the mower in the half-cut grass, broken! It's been repaired several times by my handy husband, but this time it's not happening.

2. I'd like to thank George W. and his economic stimulus package for the new mower we got today.

3. Jack is currently sleeping in his crib, sucking his thumb. He's been sucking it all day long. He looks so freaking cute doing it, I want to squeeze him.

4. David and Henry both fell asleep on the floor tonight watching their new-to-us Thomas DVD. I tried to move David and he told me that he was "camping".

5. I need to seriously shake my baking booty tomorrow and Thursday. I've still got six layers of wedding cake to make. Unfortunately, I don't have double pans of the sizes I've got to make, as they're not sizes I frequently use and are expensive pans. That slows the process considerably.

6. Our weather has been BEAUTIFUL the last few days. I wish it was like this all year here.

7. Nice weather makes me want to buy cute skirts and new flip flops.

8. It also makes me want to have a garage sale. And seriously folks, how do we have enough crap each year to have a garage sale?

9. Homemade strawberry jam + me = love. I could eat it with a spoon.

10. We'll be having a babysitter in two weeks when Chris is on vacation. We're going to go out for dinner.

11. I'll be leaving all three children. With a non-family, non-Julie/Darrell babysitter. I'm already having anxiety about it. NONE of our children have stayed with a babysitter. David is four and it's his first time. Jack is not 4 months yet and it will be his first time. The babysitter is the 24 year old daughter of David's teacher, and I love her. I feel totally comfortable with her being in our house and taking care of the boys, which certainly helps.

12. I think, however, I may need a drink that night to enjoy myself. I've not had a drink since before I was pregnant with David. In 2003!

3:30

It's 3:30, and I think I've officially used every single appliance in my kitchen already today. Seriously, I've used the coffee pot, the dishwasher is running right now, used the garbage disposal, of course the oven (YIKES! I have to bake 9 more layers of wedding cake before Friday!), my food processor, my Kitchen-Aid mixer, my bread machine (currently running for the second time today), the toaster oven, the microwave, and the washer and dryer. Those aren't *officially* in the kitchen, but right off of it. Do you think my family would be upset to have strawberries for dinner tonight? Seriously, I've made strawberry cake, strawberry frosting, I'm making strawberry jam right now, gave some to my parents, made both of my children eat them for breakfast and lunch, and it hardly looks like I've used any at all! This is the first batch of jam I've done, so I'll see how it comes out and possibly make more of that. I think I'll be freezing a bunch of them tonight! Does anyone have a good strawberry recipe?? Tomorrow night I'm making a Paula Deen salmon recipe with peppers, strawberries, and oranges. It sounds yummy! But please, if you've got a good recipe, send it my way!

Strawberry Fields Forever

Let me start by saying it's 2:45 in the morning and I'm blogging. Why? Because I fell asleep on the couch at 8:15 watching TV with Chris, went to bed at 8:30, and woke up 15 minutes ago wide awake.

Sunday we took the boys to pick strawberries. It was so much fun! We got 11 pounds of strawberries!! I want to go back at least one more time before the season ends in June. I'm going to try making some strawberry jam, which I've never done before. Today I'm going to make - what else? - a strawberry cake. They had some HUGE ones there that looked delicious, but after buying 11 pounds of strawberries I certainly couldn't bring myself to buy a strawberry cake! Chris said he enjoyed picking them more than he expected. David LOVED it and was great at finding nice red ones. Henry, as I should have expected, was much more interested in just running up and down the rows. He helped me pick some, but was uninterested in doing so himself. Jack. . . hated it. I suspect because I was wearing him in the Baby Bjorn, so each time I bent over to pick some he perhaps felt he was going to fall out. I sort of crouched down, held his head, and leaned over to get the berries. I'm sure I looked silly, but he finally fell asleep.

After we picked the strawberries, we went to my parents' house for a visit and to give them some of the fruits of our labors. They opened their pool a couple of weeks ago, and David and Henry went swimming. They're insane. The water was 70 degrees. I completely understand that in Massachusetts 70 degrees would probably be the water temperature in July in their pool. However, we live in TN, and we're spoiled. That water was damn cold! Henry wasn't interested in the pool because it was so cold, so he lounged in the hot tub. David, my little fish, didn't care at all about the temp. and swam his little heart out.

Here are some more photos. I'm going to try to go back to sleep!

Jack Eating

I hope this works!

Six for Saturday

Because I missed 5 for Friday. . .

1. Henry has his silky blanket he loves, and Jack loves to rub a little silky he has. I got him a big one yesterday, and this is what he promptly did with it.

2. Henry is currently in the corner in the dining room screaming, "Bad Mama!" because I put him there for whining, fussing, and just generally carrying on. I told him he's welcome to come out when he can get himself together and stop his inappropriate behavior. He's been there for 9 minutes with no sign of stopping. I love three years old.

3. We had Outback for dinner last night. I swear I could eat their Ahi tuna appetizer for every meal and not get sick of it. I l-o-v-e it.

4. We're going a first birthday party today for my friend's little girl. I did the cakes and the cookie favors. It will be really the first time I've been at a party where I did the cake and people don't know it. I'm curious to sort of be a fly on the wall! I hope people like it!

5. I so need to go grocery shopping, and I keep putting it off buying basically for the day each time I go. I really enjoy grocery shopping, but it takes so long and is difficult to go by myself!

6. Jack has found his feet. I LOVE when babies play with their feet! He occupies himself for the majority of the day "knitting" his hands together and trying to get his feet.

Stolen from another blog!

5 things I cannot live without under $10:
1. Travel wipes
2. Oatmeal
3. Diet Coke
4. Chapstick
5. Dunkin Donuts carmel swirl iced latte, skim milk, no whip

5 Favorite Movies:
1. Dirty Dancing
2. Sweet Home Alabama
3. Can't Buy Me Love
4. Girls Just Wanna Have Fun
5. Urban Cowboy

5 Girl baby names you love (but won’t use): [My own disclaimer - the original blog had "but won't use" on there -- Trust me that given the chance, I would use ANY of these!]
1. Charlotte
2. Amelia
3. Katherine
4. Caroline
5. Georgia

5 Boy baby names you love (but won't use): [My own disclaimer -- if I have to name 5 more baby boys, they'll be visiting me in a psychiatric ward.]
1. Chet
2. Drew
3. George
4. Davis
5. Harrison

5 songs you could listen to over and over:
1. Girls Just Wanna Have Fun
2. Glory Days
3. Born to Run
4. Margaritaville
5. Smooth Criminal

5 things that stay in your purse all the time:
1. My wallet
2. Cell phone
3. Chapstick
4. Wipes
5. Receipts

5 obsessions you have right now:
1. Reading blogs
2. Grey's Anatomy
3. Weight Watchers
4. Flip Flops
5. Going to the Y

5 places you would really love to go:
1. West Palm
2. Martha's Vineyard
3. Target by myself
4. Maui
5. Maine